


Long Nights Ahead

by Kesina



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Blood and Violence, Body Horror, Dark Past, F/M, False Identity, Gun Violence, Implied/Referenced Torture, Mild Sexual Content, Monsters, More tags later, Scents & Smells, Transformation, Vampire Bites, Vampires
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:54:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26083006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kesina/pseuds/Kesina
Summary: The Nighthowler case threw Zootopia into chaos. Now, two years later, Officers Wilde and Hopps are still cleaning up after it. Unfortunately, whoever has replaced Bellwether has something far darker up their sleeve.
Relationships: Judy Hopps/Nick Wilde
Comments: 10
Kudos: 45





	1. Chapter 1

Nicholas Wilde was not a religious tod. He had attended a largely pred church of Gaia as a child, but as life hardened his faith waned. He was also not what one would call a scaredy-fox. His life had been difficult, and he had seen a lot of evil over his years. He had known true and soul-wracking fear.

Time seemed to stand still, the sharp scent of blood mixing with spent gunpowder and the bitter scent of tranq-gun propellant, his mind racing and his heart pumping faster than was healthy for someone even at the peak of fitness. Officer Wilde remembered the prayers as if he were staring at the book, and that fear he had felt all those years ago swallowed him from behind. The revolver felt cold and heavy in his hands, his tranquilizer side arm spent on the ground nearby.

"Never let them see they get to you," something inside reminded himself and as the world crashed back into motion, he squeezed the trigger. Once. Twice. Three times and the monstrously sized ram finally fell over. He moved over, kicked the shotgun away from the mammal, and sprinted the rest of the way to the small, crumpled form on the opposite end of the room.

He dropped to his knees before he got there, sliding the rest of the distance along the concrete, “Judy!” he shouted, checking her over even as one hand shifted to the radio on his vest, “This is Wilde, officer down, shots fired, suspect down, need medical at my location YESTERDAY!”

The voice on the radio came back clear and strong, “I dispatched EMTs as soon as I heard the shots over Hopps’ radio. How bad is it?”

He looked over the rabbit in front of him, “Unknown, pulse is strong. I don’t see any blood,” he said, then thinking to himself  _ ‘and all I smell is the ram’s… _ ’

“Medical is five mikes out, Nick.”

“Copy that, Ben. I’ll let you know if anything changes,” the fox said before dropping his hands and tearing open his partner’s wind breaker to get a look at her vest, “C’mon carrots, don’t do this to me.”

He inspected her vest closely and sighed as she coughed herself awake, “N-Nick?” she rapsed.

“Hey fluff, still with us? Guess bunnies are more durable than I thought.”

“H-how bad?”

“Looks like your vest caught it all. You might have some broken ribs and I can’t rule out internal bleeding. He hit you with  _ bear shot _ , Judy.”

“Feels like,” she gasped for air and coughed. He smelled a little of her blood now, a scent he had sadly become familiar with over the time they’d been partners, “feels like I got hit by a truck.”

“A truck named ‘Double-ought Buck,’” he snarked, his smirk returning to his features, mask firmly back in place, “Might have a punctured lung. Medical is almost here.”

“Th-the suspect?” she asked, trying to sit up.

“Stay down, Carrots. You know procedure. Suspect is down. I put an entire mag of tranqs into him and 3 rounds of .45 before he went there though,” Nick said, turning to look back to where the suspect was laying only to see an empty pool of blood and a discarded shotgun, “Shit!”

Nick grabbed his radio and rushed over to the pool, scanning the warehouse from floor to rafters, “Dispatch, this is Wilde, Suspect is  _ not down _ , repeat, suspect has escaped.”

“What? How?” came Clawhauser’s voice, “I thought you said he was down.”

“He was, he had an entire magazine of large mammal tranqs in him and three rounds of .45 hollow point.”

“He… what?”

“Put out an APB, Ram, mid-30’s, heavily wounded and dangerous.”

“On it, I’ve already notified the area hospitals.”

Nick shook his head,  _ ‘Big boy isn’t going to show up at any of those.’ _

Sirens cut off any further thoughts as two ambulances pulled up to the open door of the warehouse, several large mammals piling out and stomping into the room, “Officers!”

“Back here! Hopps took a round, the vest caught it, definitely some internal injuries.”

“Got it, you?”

“I’m fine, get back here and help Hopps.”

He moved back over to his partner and sighed, she had passed out again but her heartbeat was still strong. As the medical mammals moved in, he stepped back. More vehicles were pulling up outside: backup, late as always. He walked towards the front of the warehouse, his casual mask slipping slightly as he thought about Judy laying there behind him, and looked at the officers who had decided to join him. He blinked as a familiar pair of horns stocked towards him through the light cast by the cluster of headlights.

“Chief?”

“Wilde. Hopps?”

“Back there with the medics. Suspect escaped, somehow,” Nick sighed, “My negligence. I was concerned for Officer Hopps.”

“Evidence?” he asked, staring into the darkness of the warehouse.

“Nighthowler lab beneath a warehouse full of supplies for weaponizing it. Not sure if it’s a copycat or another cell. Tech boys will have to look at the computers. Luckily the guard only had a shotgun and not a pellet dispenser.”

“Wilde…”

“Chief. This is my fault. I should have seen the shotgun sooner. I was careless.”

“Wilde!” the larger mammal said, his tone cold, “Have the medics look you over. Go home. Clean up. Put your thoughts in order, get Hopps something to wear for when she leaves the hospital, and report to me after you check on her in the morning.”

“Bogo, I…”

“Those are my orders, Wilde. She’s in good hooves. Go. Home.”

“Yes, sir,” Nick replied, not in the mood for any snark. His partner, his best friend, one of two mammals in the entire world he would trust with his life, had been shot on his watch.

He did as he was told. He went home. He removed his uniform and only now noticed there was blood on it. Not much, but enough to qualify as evidence. He sighed and stuffed the whole thing in a spare garbage bag. He took his revolver from the holster on his belt and made a note to recover his tranq gun from the lockup when he got back in.

Disengaging the receiver, he slid the chamber out and removed the rounds. Three spent rounds and three unspent. At least he didn’t fire more than he intended to. Nick took the spent casings and lined them up on the counter with a dark look, ‘ _ You never forget your first officer involved shooting, I guess,’ _ he thought. He hesitated about putting the usable ammunition back before opening a drawer in his small kitchen and removing six different rounds. Slightly larger, heavier, but the same caliber.  _ ‘I doubt big boy is going to come knocking, but better safe than sorry,’ _ he said to himself before heading to the bathroom.

Once the shower was at an acceptable temperature, the tod slipped into the shower and let the hot water soak his fur. He shuddered, eyes closed, and head pressed against the wall beneath the showerhead, ‘ _ You know what she’d say, Nick. Don’t beat yourself up, not your fault. Line of duty. Knew the risks. Damnit, Fluff… This old fox can’t lose you. You’ve done something to him that no one has done in a long time.’ _ He punched the wall of the shower, uncaring if it dented or not and then slid down into a primitive crouch and did something that Nicholas Wilde hadn’t done in many years.

He cried. He cried until the water went cold. Drying off he went into Judy's room and extracted a set of plain clothes and underwear, not even pausing to make a snarky comment to himself when the panties he grabbed turned out to be carrot patterned. He packed them into a duffel with some toiletries, then went into his own room and collapsed on the bed.

The next morning, at the exact moment visiting hours began, Nick walked into the hospital in full uniform carrying the duffel he had packed the night previous. He walked casually up the desk, his smile and aviators in place. Showing his badge to the ferret at the front desk, he spoke up, "Officer Nick Wilde, ZPD, here to see officer Judy Hopps."

The ferret raised an eyebrow and typed on his computer for a few minutes, "Ah, here we go. Hopps, Judith. 4th floor recovery. Rooooom," he drew out the word while scrolling, "R13."

"Thanks," Nick said, heading to the elevator and heading up. Arriving at the door, he spotted Del Gato.

"Wilde."

"I see Bogo's got you guarding the farm," he said with his trademark smirk. When he received a confused look, Nick continued, "Judy… Carrots… Carrot patch?"

Del Gato just rolled their eyes and opened the door. The fox sighed and walked past, "My humor is wasted on this force."

"Nick?" A soft, familiar voice said from the bed. Judy didn't look good. She had a tube in her nose, wires leading to monitoring equipment and her entire chest wrapped in gauze and elastic bandages.

He smiled wide, mask firmly in place, "Carrots! How's my second favorite rabbit?"

"Second favorite?!"

"When you make blueberry pie as well as your mom, I'll consider bumping you up a spot."

Judy rolled her eyes and tried to sit up, wincing a little, "Ugh, your humor almost hurts worse than getting shot."

"Speaking of… how you feeling, fluff?"

"Terrible. Lucky I suppose. Three broken ribs, punctured lung, bruises."

Nick's smile almost faltered but he kept it up and moved over to drop off the duffel on a chair before sliding up to the side of the bed, "I brought you something to wear when they let you out. Carrot pattern undies though?"

Judy's ears turned red, "Of course you'd pick those."

"They were right on top. I swear I didn't go digging through your unmentionables."

"You better not. That was a condition of our roomieship."

Nick leaned in a little, "Seriously though, Carrots, I'm glad you're gonna be okay."

Judy nodded, "In six to eight weeks. Gotta let the ribs heal. Desk duty until then."

"Oh no, not paperwork!" Nick said, standing back dramatically. They shared a chuckle and Nick sighed, "Alright fluff, I need to report to Buffalo Butt."

"Good luck, Slick…"

"Thanks, Carrots."


	2. Chapter 2

Nick knocked three times on the thick wooden door to his Chief of Police’s office. A deep, curt, “Enter,” his only reply. The fox entered and closed the door behind him, finding his boss standing, staring out the windows behind his desk.

“Wilde.”

“Boss.”

“I hope you know that what happened, happens. Officers get shot. It’s part and parcel to the job. You are not at fault for anything.”

“Even for our suspect getting away?”

“You and I both know you weren’t equipped for that particular battle. The official story is that you were issued defective tranquilizers and were thus unable to non-lethally subdue the suspect. The threat of lethal force resulted in Officer Hopps being shot and you discharging your firearm which was absorbed by an armored vest, knocking the suspect out temporarily. He used the opportunity given by your assessment of Officer Hopps’ injuries to leave the scene via an open skylight.”

“Never understood why a warehouse needed a skylight. Unofficially?”

“Unofficially, our suspect’s blood tests came back some rather unique chemical signatures which are currently under investigation as well as a unique variation of the Nighthowler serum.”

“It was a ram. I thought Nighthowler didn’t affect prey mammals?”

“This version does. We’re not sure of the full effects yet. One of them, I guess you can tell, is resistance if not outright immunity to our tranquilizers. I know you want this case, Wilde, but until Hopps is back on her feet, I can’t let you. She would try to go out there with you. Until then, you’re on protection duty for her. That ram might show up again.”

“Understood. How long is she stuck at home?”

“Two weeks medical leave, which is to begin when she leaves the hospital. Then desk duty until her doctor fully clears her.”

Nick gave him a half salute, “Got it, Chief, anything else?”

“Use that background of yours to try and get ahead of this. It’s been two years and we’re still dealing with Bellwether’s nonsense,” the buffalo said, turning around to face Nick, “This is the first time it’s escalated though… I’m authorizing you to do _whatever_ you need to do. I know that since you joined you’ve been sticking on this side of the line. Time to step back over.”

Nick raised an eyebrow, "Are you sure?"

"Tech said they're targeting Hopps specifically now. I'm not going to sit idly by while terrorists take out one of my best."

"Careful with the T-word, boss, you'll get the MIB on us."

"The Mammalian Investigation Bureau has been 'offering assistance' for the last six months. Get this done, Wilde."

"I'm on it like Clawhauser on a new Gazelle CD," Nick said with a grin before being dismissed.

Three weeks later, Judy and Nick sat at their desks. Judy was glaring across at Nick who had his smirk plastered across his face as usual, “Tell me again where you got this information?”

“Officially, this information was anonymously given through a letter.”

She sighed and looked around to confirm that they were alone in the room, “And unofficially?”

“Unofficially, I have Bogo’s go-ahead to use any and all resources on either side of the law to solve this mess.”

“And I’m Ju-Ju’s godmother, so Mr. Big has an interest in my health.”

“Exactly,” Nick said, opening the file, “His crew keeps track of _everything_ that happens in Tundratown, and it just so happens that a previously abandoned warehouse has been getting quiet visits from vehicles and mammals ever since we took out the last cell. Nothing blatant like a semi, but a couple of vans, big enough for equipment.”

Judy sighed and lay her head on her desk, “So now what?”

“Now, I do a little of the Nick Wilde business and get us eyes all over that warehouse. Once we have confirmation, we follow a few of the players to find other sites. Once we have a few confirmed locations, we mobilize SWAT and take out every cell we can at once. Maybe you’ll be healed by then.

“I hate desk duty.”

“More than parking duty?”

Judy hesitated and looked genuinely thoughtful, “No.”

“Look at it this way, Carrots: We get to do all the big brain work and investigation we need _without_ being also stuck on patrol or other duties.”

“I suppose, but I’m supposed to be out there following these leads not sitting here talking about them and letting other mammals do the footwork.”

Nick sighed and shook his head slowly, “I know, fluff, I know. Nothing you can do until the doctors clear you for duty anyway.”

Judy leaned back in her chair to stare at the ceiling, “I feel fine! Bunnies heal quickly anyway. I’m sure I’ll be back on duty in another week tops.”

Unfortunately for the rabbit, it took another four weeks before the doctors were willing to clear her for full duty and by that point, the well of leads had finally run dry.

“Tundratown warehouse hasn’t had any activity in a week, Sahara Square looks empty… There must be a leak,” Judy said in frustration, tossing a folder across the desk to Nick.

“If there’s a leak, it’s in Mr. Big’s organization, and he’ll find it before we do.”

“If there isn’t, they’ve gone dark and we’re in for the long haul.”

Nick shrugged, “Maybe we’re lucky and they’ve given up and all that activity was them cleaning house.”

“That still leaves the mammals involved at large, ready to pop up again at any moment,” Judy bemoaned. She hated to have loose ends like this but there was nothing to do, “We tried to get ahead of them and they went dark. Whoever’s in charge is smarter than Bellwether.”

“That’s saying something. We only caught on to her because of my terrible luck.”

“So what do we know?”

Nick shuffled the papers around to get them into order, “Group of unknown, primarily prey, mammals are still experimenting with Nighthowler. One of the experiments resulted in a compound that would affect prey mammals. There is a ram on the loose who shot you. Someone has taken over for Bellwether as this is too organized to be loose cells.”

“We had eyes on two possible sites, both were evacuated so information is being leaked somehow. They have lethal weapons that they aren’t afraid to use,” Judy added, “And they’re specifically targeting me now. What was the wording they used? Blood traitor?”

Nick nodded and was about to start talking when Clawhauser opened the door, looking terrified and out of breath, “Nick, Judy… Chief Bogo needs you right now.”

“What’s wrong?” they both asked as they stood.

“Best let him explain.”

The two waited until the cheetah made way before scampering down the hall to the Chief’s office. Entering they found Bogo looking over a folder, “Hopps, Wilde. Sit down.”

The two did so, “What’s going on?”

“An hour ago we received a 911 call from your apartment complex. Robbery in progress, or so it was called in as. Lots of loud noises according to the neighbor who called it in. Officers arrived on scene and found the apartment torn apart but the suspect had already fled. I tell you this because it was your apartment.”

Nick stood up on his chair, “What!?”

“Calm down, Wilde. It doesn’t look like much was missing. It seems the target was yourselves and not your things.”

“Any idea who it was?” Judy asked, a little shaken.

“I’d guess the ram from the warehouse, based on initial reports.”

Nick looked thoughtful, and Bogo continued, “I’m giving you two new orders. I want this solved but it’s obvious we can’t do it the way we’ve been working. Both of you are to go dark. Find someplace safe and bunker down. Fur die, contacts, etcetera. New identities, deep cover. Don’t tell _anyone_ , even me, understand?”

Judy nodded, shocked, “B-but… what about the case?”

“Officially the case is being handed over to Fangmeyer and Wolfard. Unofficially… I need to talk to Wilde alone. Officer Hopps, you’re dismissed.”

“But, sir! I-”

“Judy. Go,” Nick said softly. She looked at him and saw a completely different Nicholas Wilde than she was used to. Gone was the mask of the conman and easy going fox and in its place, the face of a mammal who had seen too many things in the dark. Even back when he had threatened her while they were investigating Bellwether’s mess, she had never seen him like this. He had even used her name instead of carrots or fluff. He meant business.

“I’ll… wait outside,” she said hesitantly and looked back and forth between the two males. They never broke eye contact with each other. It was as if she had been forgotten immediately. Closing the door behind her, she slumped against the wall and stared into her paws, looking for answers.

Nick, meanwhile, waited until the door closed before taking off his aviators, “I can hide us, boss, but I can’t do anything about the case if that’s all I’m doing.”

“I know, Wilde. When you joined the force, you told me you would work like any other officer. That’s not going to be enough this time. Something is going on and I need it stopped. This is bigger than just Zootopia, or it will be in time. I have a bad feeling that I haven’t had since… Well. That’s a story I am not willing to tell.”

Nick nodded, stretching a little, “So what are you saying?”

“I’m authorizing full release. Do not let anything or anyone stop you. You protect Hopps as best as you can but get this situation taken care of. I’ll have every resource on covering it up.”

“Do I tell her?”

“That’s up to you. If you think she can handle it, and if knowing will keep her trusting you, then do it. I know you two aren’t romantically entangled,” the yet went unsaid, but both heard it nonetheless, “but I see the way you two act around each other. Hiding it will only hurt you both in the long run.”

“I understand, sir. I’ll need to stop by our apartment first but after that we’ll be gone. I will only contact you or anyone in the ZPD if absolutely necessary. We will be staying in the city though, and you know how to get a message to me.”

Bogo nodded, “Dismissed. Good luck out there, Wilde. I know you like the darkness, but it seems to be getting deeper.”

Nick sighed, “I was just getting used to the sun too,” he muttered as he left the office, leaving Bogo alone once more. The buffalo turned and retrieved an old bottle of brown liquid and a glass from a cupboard in the wall. Pouring himself a few fingers, he sat and stared out the window, sipping the bourbon and feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> another chapter, and thanks again to skooks for editing this mess.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's this? Another chapter so quickly? Well Nick and Judy wouldn't shut up so here's a chapter full of dialogue and revelations. Again, thanks to skooks for editing. Hopefully the twist isn't *too* out of the blue?

Driving in silence, Nick and Judy made their way back to the apartment in the cruiser. As they pulled up, Nick finally spoke up, “I probably guessed the answer, but do you have a go bag?”

“A what?”

The tod nodded, “It’s a bag put together with the minimum of what you need to survive for three days if you need to get the hell out of Dodge.”

“Oh, I’ve got one, just never called it that. I call it my ready bag.”

Nick smiled, “Different lyrics, same song. Here’s the plan, fluff: We grab our go bags, leave our cellphones, wallets, anything that could be used to track us, behind. We bring the cruiser back to the hub and then we’re ghosts. We change in the cruiser and leave our uniforms and gear behind. Is your sidearm registered? Wait, dumb question, of course it is. We’ll get you a new one, leave it behind.”

“But… what… why?”

“Anything that could be used to track us, Carrots. That includes registered firearms and IDs. If your passport is in your ready bag, it stays behind.”

“How are we going to do anything with no ID and no credit?”

“Cash, and fresh IDs. Not legal by any means but… we’re past that now.”

Judy shifted uncomfortably, “I don’t like this, Nick.”

“I don’t either. I’ll explain later. We need to move,” he said, starting to exit the vehicle. The two went upstairs and slipped under the police caution tape into their apartment. The entire thing was a mess. Broken dishes, overturned furniture, and shattered picture frames greeted them.

Judy’s eyes teared up while Nick’s simply turned downcast, “Let’s just get our bags and go. We can clean up when we get back.”

Judy nodded and the two split up. Nick to his room and Judy to hers. Her ready bag was in the closet, unmolested. She opened it up and tossed her passport and emergency credit card on the night-stand. Once that was done, she took one last look around her room and grabbed the picture of her parents out of the broken frame, folding it and slipping into the bag.

Nick’s room was in a state he hadn’t seen it in since he’d joined the force. He wasn’t the cleanest fox in the world but he’d shaped up some in the academy. He took a deep breath and retrieved his go bag from the closet, shouldering it and then finding the loose floorboard. Once it was pried loose, he reached in and retrieved a case that barely fit into the space. He opened it and lifted out a rifle. It was chambered in 7.62 and specially modified so that it could fire in full auto. Very, very illegal. It was sleek, trimmed down as much as possible to be as small as possible, with a folding stock. After checking the receiver, chamber, and barrel to make sure nothing had moved in, he took out the fully loaded extended magazine and slid it home with an audible click. The spare box of ammunition went into his go bag. It would replace his revolver for now.

Standing, he met Judy in the kitchen and the two took one last look at their home before leaving. Back in the cruiser, they set out to the precinct to drop off the vehicle and their uniforms and Nick started talking again, “Okay, so, here’s the deal. Once we’re dark we’ll work out our covers. I’ve got people I can trust for fresh IDs but we need to fill in the details. We’ll grab fur dye and contacts once we settle into my bolt hole.”

Judy put her brain to work, “I’m not sure, we’re a fox and a bunny, there’s not a lot of options there.”

“Plenty of foxes in Zootopia. Bunnies? Not so much. Hares, however... “

“So I disguise myself as a hare. Won’t be too hard. A little dye in the right pattern. I’m already more muscular than the average rabbit.”

“Now the problem of us being together twenty-four seven... “ Nick said, staring out the windscreen as he drove. He had an idea but he felt for sure his partner wouldn’t go for it.

“We…” Judy sighed and her ears turned a little red, “There are a lot of interspecies couples in Zootopia, Nick. We could be one of them. Pretend to be one of them, I mean.”

Nick nodded slowly as he made another turn, “I didn’t want to be the one to suggest it, but it would be our best bet. Have you thought about our wedding pattern?”

Judy blinked, “Wedding pattern?!”

“I mean, it’d be best if we were married, and I know a lot of women are obsessed with planning weddings. Present company probably excluded?” he asked hesitantly.

“I mean… I haven’t had… I’ve been too busy…”

“I’m just joking, fluff, calm down. Start thinking of a different name, too. Usually I’d have one prepped for myself but I have to assume all my old ones have been burned since I joined the force. Okay, get changed, I’ll use the back seat,” he finished as he parked the cruiser.

Judy nodded and waited for him to climb in the back before she started taking off her uniform. Her top and vest went first and she began to rummage through her bag for replacements. Had Nick been looking he would have been treated to an excellent view of her muscular back covered in sleek grey fur. Instead he had quickly shucked off his uniform, and tossed on a plain t-shirt and jeans combination. He’d have to resist the hawaiian and tie combo for now. He folded the uniform and left it on the back seat and made his way back to the front to check on his partner and lock up the vehicle.

“Carr-” he barely got out the first syllable when he noticed the bunnies’ current predicament. She seemed to be slightly entangled in her leggings and he finally knew the truth of her lack of panty-lines in them. There were none, and he was treated to a full view of her bunny burrow. He mentally smacked himself for the joke and then strained to quickly avert his gaze. The image of his partner naked before him seared into his memory, “SORRY!” he shouted and turned his back.

“Nick! Sweet cheese and crackers… This is embarrassing.”

“I’m really sorry, I figured you’d be done,” he said, staring into the parking garage. His nose caught a scent he wasn’t entirely familiar with coming from his friend. He’d smelt it before but rarely.

There was a bunch of rustling clothes followed by a zipper, “I’m decent, you can turn around now.”

He turned around, his partner wearing a gazelle tour t-shirt and shorts, “Okay, that’s generic enough. Grab your bag and follow me.”

Judy nodded and hopped over and down next to the fox. He locked the car and tossed the keys on the seat. The other officers would get everything later. Nick led his partner down the garage to a sublevel full of older vehicles and unused equipment, then through a door to a maintenance tunnel.

“Nick, where are we?”

“The real underbelly of Zootopia. These maintenance tunnels run all over the city, keeping power and supplies flowing. Hardly anyone comes down here unless something goes wrong but they’re great for making your way around without anyone noticing.”

“And you used to be a con-man who used them all the time,”

“Spot on, Carrots. We’ve got a few miles of tunnel to walk before we reach the safe house.”

“How do you know it hasn’t been compromised?” Judy asked as she kept pace.

“Because it hasn’t exploded,” Nick said with a sharp-toothed grin.

“Wh-what?!” she asked, stopping in her tracks.

“You’ll see when we get there.”

Judy blinked and then ran to catch up. The two continued their way, dodging leaky pipes of mysterious, foul-smelling fluid, sparking wires, and steam vents until they reached a large door with a circular handle more commonly found on ships and in bunkers, “Where are we?”

Nick pushed a button next to the door, which opened a keypad, “Honey’s,” he said matter of factly while punching in a code. There was an angry beep and the pad snapped shut, almost taking off his finger, “Of course she changed it,” he sighed and looked around, finding the hidden camera nestled in the ceiling. He waved at it and spoke, “I know you’re watching, you paranoid recluse.”

There was silence while Judy looked up at Nick and then the camera. She was about to ask when a voice came from a tinny speaker.

“How do I know you’re really you?”

Nick rolled his eyes, “You have two toasters but only use one because the other burned your toast once 15 years ago.”

There was another moment of silence before there was a click and hiss and the bunker door opened, “Get in here before someone sees you.”

The tod laughed and motioned for Judy to follow him before entering, “Who’s gonna see me down here other than you?”

“You know the answer to that as well as I do, Nicky-boy,” came the same voice, but from inside the dark bunker this time. It was gravelly, but feminine, and then the lights snapped on and Judy was introduced to the resident recluse.

“Honey, meet Carrots. Carrots, this is Honey,” Nick said with a smile before going over to hug the new mammal. She was stocky, slightly taller than Nick but all muscle aside from a slight gut. A badger, if Judy knew her mammals, and she did.

“My name _isn’t Honey_. What are you doing bringing strange mammals here?”

“You know what’s been going, I assume?”

“You mean the sheeple conspiracy to take over Zootopia and turn it into a prey paradise at the cost of predators?”

“I guess that’s what you could call it.”

“Still doesn’t explain why she’s here,” Honey said, gesturing to Judy.

“She’s being targeted, I figured you’d know that too. It’s my job to keep her safe and put an end to this,” Nick said, moving back over to Judy.

“So you need to crash here for a bit, again. You’re damn lucky I still owe you, Wilde.”

“You won’t owe me anything after this, Madge. We also need disguises. Contact lenses, fur dye, the works. New identification.”

“You _know_ I hate talking to Flash, Nick.”

“I’ll call him once we get some burners.”

Judy looked back and forth. There was history here, one she wasn’t privy to. She knew Nick had a past from before they met but she had no idea how deep it actually went. That he knew a recluse who lived in what was essentially a bunker in the sewers was new, “Wait… Flash, like DMV sloth and speed demon, Flash?”

Nick grinned again, “Who else? Easy to create valid IDs when you can add them directly to the system.”

Judy’s world view was rapidly crashing down around her, “Oh my sweet berries.”

Their badger companion raised her eyebrows, “What, can’t handle that the world isn’t as cut and dry as you’d like there, bunny?”

Judy looked ready to launch into a tirade, when Nick just rested a paw on her shoulder, “Don’t rise to her bait, fluff. Honey, we won’t be in your fur long. If anything I’d like to be gone to a new place by tonight.”

“Good, cause I don’t need you making a mess of everything again. I’ve got dye on hand but contacts and ID will take a day or two. I’ll have them sent to wherever you’re staying by the usual courier. Color preference?”

“Cream for me, and something Hare-ish for Carrots. Blue eyes for me and grey for her.”

Judy was going to baulk but decided against it and just sighed.

“You can tell Flash your new name yourself.”

Nick nodded and they went further into the bunker. It was a surprisingly nice, spacious place, looking more like a home than a bunker. There was the obligatory spider-web wall of news clippings and pictures of random mammals. Most of the threads lead to Bellwether, but one went from bellwether to a question mark.

“Impressive work…” Judy said, looking at it, “We came to the same conclusion.”

“That Bellwether was just another minion of a higher power? You’re right. My guess is lizard people.”

“Lizard people? Lizards haven’t evolved sapience yet.”

“They did long before we did, and have been secretly controlling Zootopia since its founding!”

“So what would they have to gain with the Nighthowler?”

“Total collapse of mammalian society so they can rule over us as god-kings.”

Judy slowly nodded, _‘Yep, this mammal is insane,’_ she thought to herself while she listened to the continued ranting. Nick had gone off to make his phone call and change his fur color.

When he finally reappeared, Judy thanked him silently for the rescue and went off to dye her own fur. She thought back to the time when a family of hares had visited Bunnyburrow to negotiate a trade deal with her parents and went about mimicking one of their patterns for her own fur. It was a bit messy but it looked natural so she simply redressed and went back out.

Looking over her partner, he didn’t look like Nick anymore. Gone was the red to be replaced with a mostly cream-colored coat and black tips on his tail, ears, and limbs. The only hint that he was still the same was the smirk on his face and those eyes. He’d found a pair of sunglasses somewhere that weren’t his aviators.

“... need to tell her,” the badger finished as she entered the room. Both mammals turned to face the disguised bunny.

“That’s a good look for you, Carrots. Gonna have to stop calling you that, though.”

“Yeah, and I’ll have to stop calling you Slick. What do you need to tell me?”

“You heard that. You bunnies and your hearing.”

Their host rolled her eyes, “Stop stalling.”

Nick sighed and motioned for Judy to sit. He sat nearby her and took off his sunglasses, “Carrots, before I tell you anything, I want you to know that it changes nothing about who I am and the way I have been living since before you met me.”

“Okay…”

“When we met I told you I had been running cons since I was twelve and hadn’t paid taxes in twenty years.”

“Right.”

“The thing is… I wasn’t entirely truthful. I’ve never paid taxes. I only do now because I have a legitimate job.”

Judy smirked and gave a small laugh, “Okay, what does this have to do with anything?.”

“I’m… this is not a story I really ever wanted to tell you. I wanted it to go like the last few times I’ve had a good friend. You grow old, I pretend with fur dye, attend your funeral, mourn for a few years, and move on.”

“Nick, you’re scaring me.”

“Judy,” the tod said purposefully, so she knew he was being absolutely truthful, “I’m not thirty-three years old. I’m not even really a fox, not fully anyway.”

Now, the rabbit was _really_ scared, “Nick…”

“I’m five hundred and forty-seven as of my birthday. I’m… well I guess you’d call me a vampire.”

“You… what?! You’re pranking me. You have to be.”

He sighed and let his mask of all masks fall. The emerald eyes she had stared into so many times slipped away, replaced by a red sclera and green-tinged grey irises. His canines lengthened and sharpened and she felt an aura of fear wash over her. Her primitive instincts were telling her to run and hide as they often did when she faced a larger predator, “I’m not lying, Judy.”

She scooted back in her chair, trying to be as small as possible, “Bu-bu-but… Y-you…” she grabbed her own neck, protecting it, “I-I… You haven’t been feeding on me have you!?”

Nick laughed, “No, fluff. I don’t drink from the tap anymore. Haven’t in, oh, a hundred years or so. I get by on blood packs and normal food.”

She tilted her head, curious despite herself and Nick continued.

“A lot of the myths get things wrong. I’m perfectly fine in the sun, I can eat and enjoy regular food. You think I can act _that well_ when Bonnie feeds me blueberry pie? I used to think fresh blood was the best taste in the world until I had those blueberries. I do have… abilities, but they’re weaker now since I haven’t fed in a while,” he said, before returning his face to normal, “Honey here only knows because she caught me in the act. Bogo knows because I felt it was my duty to inform him and let him know I was just another officer. Now you know, because you need to.

“I didn’t want to tell you, and if things had gone my way, you would never have known. We would have gone on as friends and partners and I would have mourned you when you were gone. I would add another number to the end of my name and continue on.”

“I… I don’t believe any of this.”

The badger smirked, “Believe it, Carrots. You’re in the deep end of the pool now. No floaties or water wings here.”

“Does Finnick know?”

“No, and I don’t plan on telling him,” Nick said, “He may be my friend, but I don’t trust him that well not to use the knowledge against me.”

Judy nodded, still stunned and trying to process, “So… what about the weaknesses?”

“Fire and silver deal damage that takes longer to heal and can kill if you hit me in the heart or head. Stab me in the heart and leave it in and I’m basically shut down until you remove it. Sever my head and keep it away from my body and I’ll die. Otherwise, just myths. You know how much I love garlic alfredo.”

The bunny nodded, “What about… other myths? Other creatures?”

Nick nodded, “Morphos exist, and I think that’s what they were trying to do with Nighthowler. Ancient Morphos used it to instigate the first change in their blood, and after that learned to do it without assistance. To non-Morphos it just makes them savage like we saw. We’re extremely lucky that Bellwether didn’t awaken any Morphos.”

“The new formula…” Judy said, suddenly looking thoughtful, “They’re trying to _make_ Morphos. If they could make an army of super powered mammals under their control they could take over Zootopia or even the world.”

“There’s a reason why vampires and Morphos hide what they are, we’re few in number now, but if an army of them appeared, and mammals didn’t have the knowledge to put them down? It’d be a slaughter.”

Judy stood up from the chair and walked over, giving the fox a hug, “I’m going to want to know more, about who you were before we met, if you want to tell me. For now, though, I have no reason to not keep trusting my friend.”

Nick sagged and sighed, feeling a weight lifted, “You have no idea how happy that makes me.”

“Well as much as I like to watch two mammals get all lovey-dovey, you two need to get a move on. I’ll have the apartment key, the contacts, and the IDs sent to you in a day or so,” said their host, standing up and moving over to the door release, “Now get the hell out.”

“A gracious host as always, Honey. I’ll see you around.”

“Yeah yeah, now get going, you overgrown mosquito. We’re even now, so don’t come calling begging for another favor without something to bargain with.”

Nick chuckled while they exited the bunker, “Right, right. Let’s get going, Carrots,” he said, perching the sunglasses on his muzzle and heading down the tunnel.

Judy followed along, keeping pace easily, “Wait, if you’re fine in the sun, why the sunglasses?”

“I can see deeper into the infrared and UV spectrum, so the sun hurts my eyes. The glasses help… filter out the noise, so to speak.”

“What else do I need to know?” she asked.

“I can smell better than a wolf, hear almost as good as you bunnies, I’ve got strength beyond the norm and can run faster than an olympic sprinter cheetah.”

“But everything in your academy file said you were average.”

“Perfectly, obviously average. I did it on purpose. You have to realize, to someone like me, mammals are made of glass.”

“You could probably just _jump_ the ice wall.”

“I was tempted. Damn thing is _cold_ ,” he said, and the two laughed.

Judy thought for a moment, “So back when you were pretending to be savage… How hard did you have to resist _actually_ biting me?”

Nick raised a hand and scratched the back of his head, “I’m gonna be honest here, Carrots. I was extremely tempted. You smelled absolutely delicious. The cut in your leg didn’t help.”

Judy blushed and shoved her hands into her pockets, “Sorry…”

“Nothing to apologize for. My self control won, so no worries.”

They walked in silence for a while until they reached a surface access hatch and appeared in an alley across from a hotel. They checked in with cash and their false names, claiming they’d been flooded out and were waiting for new documents which would arrive tomorrow. The clerk at the front desk wasn’t convinced, but a few extra bills helped smooth things over, along with Nick’s charisma.

They settled into the room, a single bed made for larger mammals all that had been available, but it was plenty of space for the two of them, and they _were_ pretending to be married after all, “Alright fluff, talk to me. Your scent has been all over the place since we left Honey’s. What’s going on?”

Judy tugged her ears over her face and groaned, “I should have known. You… you know how I like vampire movies…”  
  
“Yeah? Oh… No, Judy, I’m not going to turn you. It’s not a fun experience.”

“No no no no no!” she said quickly, waving her hands defensively, “Not that! I don’t want… that. I just… I mean if it’ll help and… You could maybe…” she took a deep breath and then barely whispered the last part, “feed… from me?”

Now it was Nick’s turn to blush. Sure, he’d had willing participants before, but none that he was this close to. He stumbled over his words for a few moments before collecting himself, “I uh, I’d really like that, but… we probably shouldn’t if we want to stay friends and partners.”

“Eh?”

“It can be a very _intense_ experience, especially if emotions are involved... “

“I can handle intense. I _have_ been shot, after all.”

“I mean… if you let me feed from you, we may not be _pretending_ to sleep together.”

“Oh? Oh… Oh!” Judy said as the full weight of what he was saying hit her.

“And you’ve been hotboxing the room since we started talking. I’m not against it, but… I’m an ancient undead fox, and you’re an adorable bunny. Think about if you really want to do this.”

“I’ve been thinking about it, you dumb fox. That’s _why_ I’m ‘hotboxing’ the room.”

"Sly bunny… Alright. I’ll feed from you. Climb onto the bed and roll up your sleeve.”

“You’re not going to bite my neck?”

“Too many major arteries and veins. You’d pass out before you had any fun.”

“Oh. Okay,” Judy said, rolling up her sleeve and holding out her arm.

“Lay down,” Nick said, and she did, “Brace yourself. Like I said, this can get intense.”

NIck’s mask disappeared as his fangs extended and he wrapped his mouth around Judy’s arm. She shivered at the touch of his teeth to her flesh but was completely unprepared for the feeling of him biting into her arm. They both moaned in pleasure. Nick from the flavor and sensation of feeding on hot, fresh blood for the first time in decades, and Judy from the venom of his bite.

Eyes rolled back in his head, Nick forced himself to feed carefully. This was no villain sentenced to death. He took four or five gulps of the bunny’s life-blood before stopping, his head lolling back and a gasp escaping his lips. He leaned drunkenly forward and ran his tongue over the bite, sealing it closed in one pass. He licked his way up the arm to Judy’s face to find her eyes crossed in pleasure and small gasps and moans coming from her mouth, “I warned you, fluff,” he whispered before she reached up and pulled him into a kiss. He broke it and pulled back, “Easy there. You just lost some blood. Once the rush passes, you’ll feel it. I’ll get you something to eat and drink once I can walk again.”

“Wh-what?” she gasped.

“It was good for me too. I feel like I just went shot for shot with McHorn,” he said with a drunken chuckle.

Judy started giggling and didn’t stop, especially when it made Nick join in. The two laughed themselves out and lay there until Judy coughed, “Okay, yeah, I feel like I just gave a bit more than I should have at the blood bank.”

“Yeah. I’ll get you something to help you recover,” Nick said, standing up and wobbling slightly before heading toward the door.

“Oh, Slick?”  
  
“Yeah, Carrots?”

“I have another job for that tongue of yours later.”

Nick stumbled and stared at the woman, “I’m not going to get to any rest tonight, am I?”

“You don’t sleep anyway, do you?”

“I don’t _need_ to, but it’s pleasant.”

“Then hurry up and get me dinner,” she said, weakly throwing a pillow in his general direction.  
  
“Yes, Officer,” he said, exiting the room and making his way down the hall, “I hope she doesn’t regret this in the morning…”


	4. Chapter 4

Judy Hopps woke the next morning entangled in warm sheets and fur. Blinking and focusing on her surroundings she realized she was snuggled up against Nick who had curled his tail around her at some point during the night. She shifted a little and buried her nose in his fur, taking comfort in his scent and thought back to last night. She smiled and blushed as she remembered how good it felt and how patient Nick was. She sighed happily and dozed back off against his chest.

Nick woke up in a similar situation, though his tiredness was a construct and not a necessity. He smiled at the bunny snuggled up to him and took in her still naked form. Last night had been a good use of the energy he had received from feeding, and he still had plenty left. Nuzzling in closer he waited until she woke again, “Mornin’ kiddo.”

Judy giggled, “Mornin’ gramps.”

“Oo, that hurts,” he said jokingly, “Taunting the elderly with their age.”

The bunny made a soft sound and nuzzled in a bit, “How are you feeling?”

“Wonderful. You?”

“I don’t regret a thing. Let me know whenever you get ‘hungry’ okay?”

“Mm, depending on how hard I work I might need to feed quite often,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows.

Judy giggled and stood up, stretching slowly until her back popped, “Oof. I’m surprised this doesn’t feel weird… Is that weird?”

“It feels like a natural continuation of our relationship, that’s not weird.”

“I know, I just-” Judy was about to talk when there was heavy knocking on the door, followed by something being slid underneath it. She hopped off the bed and went to check, picking up a blank manilla folder. Opening it, she dumped the contents on the room’s table, “Looks like she came through.”   


“Honey always does. She’s crazy, and a recluse, but she’s a good mammal,” Nick said, walking over. He picked up the contacts meant for him and looked over his new ID, “Flash does good work too. How does yours look, ‘Maria’?”

“Looks as legit as I can see without special equipment, ‘Frank’. Why do I feel like we’re from some kind of old sitcom?”

Nick shrugged helplessly and went to the bathroom to wash his hands and put the contacts in, “Are there credit cards in there too?”

“Yeah, one for each of us in our new names… I really don’t like this…” Judy said, joining him and putting her own in.

Blue eyes found grey and he shrugged, “Just think of it like undercover work. We can take care of credit scores after the fact. Right now we have a terrorist ring to bust and an apartment to find.”

“Oh, I guess that’s the keys then, and I imagine it’s the address on our IDs.”

“Yep, everything should be ready for us.”

“Well, let’s get dressed and go,” Nick said with a smile and picked up the bunny to carry her back out into the main room of the hotel, dumping her on the bed and throwing her clothes at her playfully.

The two exited the hotel after checking out at the front desk and providing their IDs finally to the front desk. They currently lacked a car so they figured out where the new home was in the city and took public transit to reach it. Standing out front they stared at their house.

“We live  _ here _ ?!” Judy said.

Nick nodded slowly. He had expected something subdued, or a small one-bedroom apartment. Honey had provided something far, far more. It was still small, compared to the buildings around it, but it was huge to someone who’d only lived in small apartments or warrens up to that point. He took out the keys and walked up the steps to try them in the lock and they worked, “Yes, yes we do. C’mon in, already!”

Judy hurried up the stairs and into the house, staring around. It was sparsely furnished with a mixed style as if a newly married couple simply pooled their own furniture, which was cover appropriate. There was a decently sized kitchen, complete with island stand, and a quick glance in the cupboards showed that it was fully stocked. The pair wandered around the house, exploring, finding the master bedroom, an office with generic equipment that could imply any number of employment scenarios, and a small guest room.

“This… is amazing,” Judy said, standing in the kitchen and taking a sip of water from the sink.

“There’s a note,” Nick said, pulling it off the fridge.

“What’s it say?”

“It’s coded, but it’s from Honey. She’s been sitting on this property for years and is glad to finally have a use for it. She says not to make too much noise, and the downstairs toilet creaks a lot when it’s flushed, but the plumbing is solid.”

“Huh, well, we’ll have to thank her when we can,” the bunny said, leaning against Nick casually.

He, in return, wrapped an arm around her and nodded, “I’d say let’s get unpacked but we don’t really need to. We should go shopping for some clothes and think of cover jobs. I think my accountancy degree is still valid, I could run that from here.”

“You have an accountancy degree?” Judy asked with a doubtful expression.

Nick nodded, “I have three degrees. A two year accountancy degree, which qualifies me to do tax returns for mammals and taught me how to avoid paying them for decades. I also have a BFA in music theory and a masters in medicine, though that one is a few years out-dated. I’m pretty sure we don’t use leeches anymore.”

“I guess being an ancient undead monster gives you plenty of free time,” she said, elbowing him gently.

“You don’t really think that, do you?”

“You’re not a monster, Nick. It was a joke.”

“Frank.”

“Huh?”

“I’m Frank, or Love, or some other intimate nickname like Schmoopy-Doo. Actually forget that last one, it’s too sappy.”

“Ah, right. Gotta get used to that. I’ll save the truly embarrassing ones for when you’re with clients.”

“Fine, Honeybunny,” the fox said, licking his lips.

The rabbit blushed deeply and punched him in the hip, “You pervert!”

“I’ll have you know that I’ve been celibate for over a hundred years! If anything you’re the pervert, corrupting a poor, innocent old man like me!”

Judy rolled her eyes and left the kitchen, “Well come on then, Frank, we got jobs to do.”

“Yep, your job is to stay here and stay safe. My job is to keep you protected and finish this.”

“I can’t just stay here. I want to help.”

“And you can, but you need to learn some new stuff first. Sit down,” he said, grabbing his bag and setting it on the coffee table before pulling out his rifle and unfolding the stock, “Ever used one of these?”

“I qualified for sniper at the academy just like you, old man.”

“So you can handle thirty-ought-six. This is seven-six-two. Special order from Mr. Big a few decades ago when there was a… monster problem. Fully automatic, which I needn’t tell you is highly illegal, unregistered, made from imported, unmarked parts. As far as anyone in power is concerned, this gun does not exist.”

“And you’ve had that this entire time?”

Nick nodded and locked back the charging handle, dispensing the round in the chamber and then he unloaded the magazine, “What do you notice about this round?” he asked, tossing it to her.

She studied it carefully, “It’s heavy, and the tip is weird.”

“It’s 203 grain 7.62 by 54r. Means it’s bigger, badder, and deadlier. The tip looks weird because the hollow point is filled in with a paste made of silver nitrate. For some reason silver is effective against 80% of the things that haunt the darkness.”

“And the other 20%?”

Nick hesitated before clipping the round back into the magazine and reseating it in the gun, “The other 20% are extinct.”

Judy leaned back on the couch, unconvinced, “So why do you need a rifle, anyway? Aren’t you a big, strong vampire?”

“When I’m well fed I can snap a Rhino in half like a breadstick, run so fast I make Flash’s hot rod look slow, even transform my body into a living weapon, but when I had this made, I wasn’t well fed. I hadn’t had fresh blood in over fifty years and was basically equivalent to a normal fox in physical strength. It was still my responsibility to solve the problem, so I found a way to do it.”

“Why was it your responsibility?”

“Ask me again after all this, and I’ll tell you…”

Judy nodded and let the topic drop. Nick showed her how to strip and clean the rifle and make sure the gun was clear and safe since it was a unique assembly. Days passed in their new life and turned into weeks. It became natural to be Frank and Maria and they even developed friendships with their new identities. Nick would disappear sometimes, on the hunt, and return with a clue when it was successful.

It was a Friday evening and the pair were winding down, snuggled up on the couch to watch a movie. That was one thing they hadn’t changed. One night a week, when it was good for both of them, was movie night. The snuggling was new, but after the night in the hotel neither of them wanted to be far from the other. In fact, she had just fed her vampire mate the previous night. It really was a pleasant experience once you understood it. The venom definitely helped. Nick had shared a story where he had tried to bottle it and market it as a high-powered aphrodisiac but the potency decayed incredibly quickly once it left his system.

They were laughing at some stupid joke in the movie when they both heard it. A creak on the front porch. Nick snapped to alert mode and sniffed the air while Judy reached for her side-arm. It wasn’t as powerful as Nick’s rifle but it would still do damage now that she had the right ammo thanks to the ammo station they had secretly installed in the basement.

Nick stood and moved silently into the entry hallway. The porch light was on and he caught the shadow of their visitor. He looked back to his charge and nodded his head slightly toward the back door. Judy began to move in that direction just as silently.

Nick spoke, “Hey honey, I’m going to get some more popcorn, do you want anything?” and started to make noise in the kitchen.

“Just some more wine, dear,” Judy replied, flicking off the safety. Once the fox opened the pantry that blocked the front kitchen window when the door was open there was a crash as the ram slammed through the glass and into the door.

Nick had expected this and had ducked out of the way, rolling to a crouch as the ram plowed into the kitchen. The monstrous mammal was huge, easily reaching nine feet tall, taller than any normal ram should be. His arms had long ago burst through the leather jacket he was wearing and it looked like the bullet holes he’d received back in the warehouse had never gotten patched. He turned toward where the fox was crouched and tossed the island aside easily. Nick finally got a better look at the rest of him.

His legs were just as heavily muscled as the rest of him, his hands were distended and stretched and the hooves on the tips had lengthened into talons. The beast growled and showed that instead of the flat teeth normal for his species he sported a mouth full of jagged fangs.

Nick grinned, “Hey big boy, remember me?” he asked, moving to stand up fully and let his mask drop, “Do you like the new look?”

The ram’s eyes widened as his nostrils flared. His hands curled into fists and there was the audible pop of joints.

“How much of who you were is left in there?” the fox asked with genuine concern. His answer came the form of a roar and another charge. Nick dodged gracefully and moved back into the hallway, “This is going to get ugly, Carrots. There’s nothing left in his head but ‘kill.’ Do me a favor and run.”

“No way, Nick, I can cover you if anything else shows up,” Judy said, not moving from her cover.

“I appreciate it, but please, leave. I don’t want you to see this,” he said, while the ram finished pulling its head out of the wall.

“Thick and thin, Slick. I’m not leaving.”

“Then, please, don’t look,” he said, moving to engage the ram as it finally turned around and found them. Judy kept her eyes on the back door but her peripheral vision had always been great, one of the other advantages of being a bunny. Now, it saw the full horror of the power of Nicholas Wilde.

He walked calmly and held out his arms to the side. His paws distended, snapping and cracking as the bones underneath broke and rearranged while muscles and tendons shifted and strengthened. His claws sharpened and lengthened, becoming blades of bone. The muscles and bones under his shoulders could be seen growing and shifting underneath his shirt as they moved to accommodate the strength needed to handle his new weapons. The rest of his body swelled to assist in the combat, his feet joining his hands in sporting deadly attachments.

The ram charged and Nick met it head on. He ducked under the ram and swung his blades upwards, slicing deep into the other mammal’s hide. His other hand came up and punched deep into the beast’s chest, shredding through its internal organs. Nick used the momentum of the charge to heave his opponent over his head and onto its back. He yanked his arms out from where they had become embedded and began to tear into it like he had gone savage, outpacing the beast’s regeneration. Blood flew everywhere, joined by bits of flesh and bone.

Nick wasn’t completely unharmed, taking several heavy blows that shattered his jaw and several ribs before he finally managed to tear the head off of the ram and, with a triumphant roar, crush it into bits. He panted for air, licking his blades clean and then feasting on the blood that remained in the corpse beneath him, lost in the fugue of combat. After several minutes he came back to himself and there was more cracking and snapping as his body turned back to normal.

Covered in blood he moved back over to Judy, who was shivering uncontrollably, “I’m sorry. We need to leave. Get our bags and my rifle, I’ll finish cleaning up down here.”

Judy nodded and moved up the stairs. She went to the bathroom first, set her pistol down on the sink, and vomited into the toilet. The bunny had thought she had a strong stomach, but witnessing that had been too much. Once her stomach was empty, she cleaned her face and mouth and then went to finish her job.

She returned downstairs with the bags a few moments later to find Nick covering the body in gasoline.

“What are you doing?”

“An unfortunate fire is going to claim the house.”

“But… evidence, clues!”

“I’ve already taken everything I can and we can discuss it later, but we have to assume that his handlers are watching and waiting so we need to leave,” Nick said, finishing and tossing the empty jerry can aside. He had, at some point, washed most of the blood off of his hands and face. He dug into his bag and put on a clean shirt and pulled out a lighter, “Remember the plan?”

Judy nodded and they both moved toward the back door. Once they reached it and had it ready to open, Nick lit the old zippo and tossed it onto the gasoline-soaked ram with ease. The corpse and the floor around it instantly went up in flames, the ravenous fire consuming the monster far faster than it should have as they left and began to move through alleys. Nick had his rifle out and up and Judy hadn’t relinquished her sidearm.

They moved down an alley only to find it blocked by a vehicle. Before they could retrace their steps, another vehicle screeched to a halt, boxing them into the narrow space.

“So the predator reveals himself for what he truly is,” came a voice as a spotlight snapped on. In front of it, a figure stood, concealed in silhouette.

“So you’ve got us cornered. Have to admit I’m impressed,” Nick replied with his characteristic snark, trying to peer past the glare, “Why don’t you come down here and we can have a chat, face to face?”

“I think not. You two have proven to be far more trouble than you’re worth. Our experiment has concluded and it’s time to clean up,” the mystery figure spoke. The voice androgynous, but commanding.

Nick shrugged and shoulder his rifle, vaguely aiming it in their direction and shooting to take out the light. He was rewarded with shattering glass and a yelp of pain, “Fokkin’ kill ‘em, ya mooks!” the figure screeched before vanishing.

The side doors on the trailers surrounding them slid open, revealing more mammals changed in similar ways to the ram. They filed out and filled the alley and both officers took aim.

“Carrots… Judy, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. We’re going to get out of this just fine.”

Nick was silent, then raised his rifle and opened fire as the monsters charged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you haven't guessed yet, I like to end chapters on cliff-hangers where possible.
> 
> Yes, I could have written the entire next action scene out but I felt it would be too much for one chapter, so, you get to wait.
> 
> Again, thanks to Skooks for his editing. I'm going to take a couple of days, collect my notes, and figure out exactly how much longer I want this fic to be.


	5. Chapter 5

As the first rounds left both of their weapons, Nick willed his consciousness to expand, the flow of time around him slowing to a crawl. He watched his rounds fly through the air, each impact first causing a spray of blood and then an eruption of fire as the silver nitrate reacted violently with the blood of the mutated mammals. He had another twenty rounds in the magazine and then another thirty round magazine taped to the first, but he wasn’t sure if that would be enough. Some of them had already caught fire from the reaction but others were still pushing forward through the pain.

He looked around for a way out. Moving his rifle he fired several more rounds, waiting for them to leave the barrel before looking up. There was a fire escape that led to the roofs but it was a ways up. That didn’t matter for someone like him. Without ceremony he grabbed Judy by the collar, clutched her to his side and jumped. He bounced off the wall, onto the fire escape, and then onto the roof. Once there, he started to run. He took a myriad of twists and turns, going through alleys, up walls, across more rooftops, and through several districts before sliding to a stop outside a decrepit building in a similarly decrepit part of town.

“Carrots, you good? I think we’re safe for now.”

“N...Nick…” he heard from his side. Judy’s voice was weak and all of a sudden he could smell her blood.

“Judy!” he said and set her on the ground. His side was covered in her blood and he quickly found where it was coming from. There was a large gash in her abdomen and she was bleeding out fast, “No… Judy, no. Stay with me.”

She coughed, blood covering her muzzle, “N-Nick… H-help,” she wheezed out and looked at him pleadingly.

Nick’s eyes filled with tears as he watched the one mammal that had made him feel normal again dying in front of him. Then it hit him in full clarity; He could still save her. It would change everything but she would survive, “Judy… I love you… I have to do this,” he said before biting into his wrist and holding it to her lips, “Drink.”

She looked at him, blinked a few of her own tears away, weakly lifted a paw to hold his arm to her mouth, and took as much of a swallow as she could. Her body seized up for a moment and Nick felt her take a few more big gulps before her entire body began to spasm violently. He stood back, licking his wound as it sealed and then sat against the wall of the alley while the love of his long, lonely existence went through the agony of the turning in front of him. He wept again.

Judy couldn’t tell how she’d been wounded, but all she had seen was a blur of action and then she was in pain and bleeding, clinging to Nick. She had collapsed and everything began to go numb as she lost blood at a clearly fatal rate. She begged for help from her best friend and recent lover and then her mind was lost in regrets and thoughts of things she hadn’t done. She had never said goodbye to her parents. She never got married, had a litter, or did anything that was on her bucket list aside from find the one male that she could feel love for. She stared up at him and his voice was distant until his arm touched her lips and she heard him, firmly and clearly command her to drink.

So she did. The first gulp of his blood burned more than any spicy carrot curry she had ever tried, but something inside clicked and demanded she drink more. She managed another three swallows before the pain became too much.

For a time, she felt nothing but agony as if every nerve in her body was firing at once. She felt bones break as muscles clenched uncontrollably around them and then heal, only to be broken again. Eventually her conscious mind shut down and she felt as if she was floating into nothing. Memories passed before her. The first time she had seen a police officer. The time Gideon had clawed her. Her first taste of blueberries. Entering the academy. All of it played before her like a movie with herself as the star and observer. She felt disconnected from it all but willed herself to cling to those moments.

Then she felt something else, some alien presence. Knowledge she shouldn’t have flooded into her mind in such force it became a new form of agony. Finally, she passed out of all knowledge into blackness.

Nick watched until her body stilled and her wounds began to heal. He picked her up and entered the building through a code-locked door. Down long stairs and through a tunnel he came to a vault door. More codes and a retinal scan allowed him access through the thick steel and concrete contraption. He sealed the door behind him and picked his way through the blackness with his enhanced sight before entering another room. He laid his charge on the table and turned on the lights revealing a small apartment-like space. Judy was currently laying on the kitchen table.

He took off his clothes and tossed them into the trash before vanishing into a bathroom and taking a shower before returning to keep an eye on the bunny as she completed her change.

Judy woke with a start, sitting up and looking around the room. She felt a deep, unending hunger and jumped down from the table and tore open the fridge. She grabbed a few bags that she recognized as blood and ripped off the tops, chugging them down. Something inside her told her that this would suffice but warm, fresh blood would taste so much better. It was only after she’d consumed six pints of the red stuff that she realized what she was doing and backpedaled, dropping the empty bag on the ground and staring.

Her eyes started playing tricks on her, showing her things that weren’t there. Her ears picked up the sound of a shower and the skittering of a small bug on the opposite side of the other room and the transmitted rumbling of a truck far above her on the surface. She clamped her eyes shut and covered her ears as best as she could and tried to breath through her mouth as she found she could smell nothing but her own blood, Nick’s, and the blood she had just consumed.

Nick found her in this state and knelt down next to her, his fur returned to its normal color. He whispered softly, “Deep breaths, I know it smells weird, but you need to calm yourself. Your senses are going into overdrive as your body starts back up. You already drank, calming the hunger, but now it's fueling all of those new sensations and abilities.”

Hearing his voice cutting through all the noise, Judy listened. She took deep breaths, even though she knew she didn’t need to breathe anymore. As her senses calmed she blinked her eyes open and looked over at Nick, recognizing him and leaping to give him a tight hug, “Nick! I… I died…”

“Died and were reborn. I couldn’t lose you, Judy, and I hope someday you’ll forgive me for what I’ve done to you.”

“I was so scared. I couldn’t feel anything… but you were there! You saved me,” she said, her waking mind still catching up, “How long was I out?”

“I don’t know if I’ve saved you…” he said guiltily, pulling back from the embrace and holding her by the shoulders, “Three days. There’s a shower in the bathroom. Wash the blood off, the fur dye will probably go with it. No need for disguises anymore.”

She nodded and stood, taking careful steps to the bathroom. She could tell something was different and was afraid of accidentally leaping into the ceiling. Entering the bathroom, she stripped out of the blood-stained clothes and tossed them into the trash. The shirt was so shredded there was no saving it. She went to remove her contacts only to find that someone, probably Nick, had already removed them and then looked in the mirror.

She gasped. Her teeth were sharper in general and she now had long fangs like Nick did. Her eyes were mostly red, mixed with a little of the amethyst they used to be. She was covered in blood. Her own and Nick’s. She stifled a sob and then started the shower. Hot water rushed over her fur but she felt no comfort. She grabbed the shampoo and scrubbed away the blood from her fur and, indeed, it took much of the fur dye with it. Watching the pink liquid swirling down the drain, she finally broke and began to cry. She had almost died and then gone through the agony of the turning. That she hadn’t broken completely was a testament to her strength.

She finally exited the shower, to find a long shirt and a fluffy towel waiting for her. She dried off most of the way and threw on the shirt, not bothering to wonder about salvaging her underwear, and exited the bathroom.

Nick was sitting in a chair by the kitchen table with a bottle of bourbon. He had already poured several fingers into a glass with a few cubes of ice and was sipping at it with a far-away look in his eyes. She made herself known by touching his arm and he looked at her and forced a smile.

“Hey, Carrots, all clean?”

She nodded and climbed up, stealing his glass of bourbon and taking a swig herself. She shuddered at the taste, so at least that hadn’t changed, “Nick… I love you, and I forgive you.”

“Don’t forgive me yet…”

She sighed and kissed him deeply, “I forgive you. Do I need to find my pen and record it for you?”

He laughed and finished his glass of bourbon, “No, no… Listen, what I’ve done is... “

“Is save me from death and give me the ability to fight these monsters on your level.”

“And cursed you to never die. To watch family and friends fade until you can barely remember their faces.”

“I get to be with you forever.”

“You’ll get sick of me after the next twenty years, I’m sure.”

“Don’t count on it, Slick. I’ve put up with you this long and I don’t plan on leaving.”

His smile this time was real, even if it was only a slight one.

She hugged into him, taking comfort in his presence, “So now what?”

“Now? Now we get ready for war.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short one this time.
> 
> If you like my work, maybe buy me a coffee? https://ko-fi.com/kesina


	6. Chapter 6

Nick led Judy through the door back into the main vault area, “Welcome to the armory.”

Judy looked around slack-jawed, “Whu.. Whu… Nick, what the heck?”

“Right, explanation. This is all meant to hunt things like m- us. If I ever needed help or something, I had to be ready. I actually just restocked and upgraded the year before we met.”

“How is any of this legal?!”

“Still thinking like a cop, Carrots? None of this is legal. Look,” He said, popping open a case and setting a small grenade on a table, “White Phosphorous grenades, as small as I could get them made to minimize collateral damage. Banned in… how many countries now?”

“Seventeen…”

Nick nodded, opening another case and placing another grenade out, “Thermite, military grade,” he said as he moved and opened yet another case and pulled out a magazine for a tranquilizer pistol, “This will fit a standard tranq side-arm. Definitely  _ not _ standard contents. Silver nitrate and napalm. It can get pretty explosive if you aim it right.”

He moved over and opened two more cases, pulling out some kind of device and a shell, “Nothing’s stronger than love, except an M32 rotary grenade launcher. 40 millimeter ‘grenades’ that are sabot shells, depleted uranium armor-piercing tip and a time delay that lets it detonate inside the target. Very expensive. Very, very illegal,” he said, checking the launcher and then setting it down with the round next to it, “Did need to get it resized for smaller mammals and it packs a hell of a kick.”

Judy just stood there flabbergasted, “Do you have  _ anything _ in here that doesn’t explode?!”

Nick laughed, “I told you, Carrots, fire is very effective against the things that hunt in the dark like us. But, yes, I do have plenty that isn’t explosive,” he said, opening a cabinet that was filled with guns and bladed weapons, cases of ammo on the bench beneath, “Pretty much every caliber available. I’ve got hollow points like the ones we’re already familiar with. Armor piercing incendiary rounds in several sizes. Solid silver buckshot rounds. Paintball rounds filled with atomized silver powder. Knives, daggers, throwing weapons, all silver edged. I’ve even got some fifty caliber anti-tank rounds.”

The bunny sat on the ground, staring around, “Sweet cheese and crackers, Nick…”

The fox moved over and sat next to her, bringing her close to cuddle, “I said we were preparing for war and I meant it. I’ve tried to call in some old friends but they’ve gone dark. It’s just us, Judy.”

“Just like always. You and me against the world,” she said, sighing and leaning against him.

Nick nodded and just sat there for a few minutes before finally standing and bringing Judy to her feet too, “Alright, fluff. You’ve got a whole new existence to get used to. Normally you’d have a couple dozen years to practice under my care, but we don’t have that long.”

“So what are we doing?” Judy asked, only to receive a solid punch to the side of the head, sending her bouncing across the floor into one of the table legs. She hadn’t even registered NIck moving.

“You have to hit me, Carrots. That’s all. One solid punch, anywhere,” he said, standing there with an almost imperious air as the bunny recovered and stood, “I’m not holding back anymore.”

It was an interesting sensation to feel your own jaw knit itself back together in a few seconds, “Sweet cheese and crackers, Nick, give me so-”

Her sentence was interrupted by a solid punch to the gut that sent her reeling.

“Warning? No warnings, no mercy, no rest. You’re well fed, I’m well fed. Fight me.”

Judy shook off the blow and readied herself, then swept in for a low kick only to find her target completely missing, causing her to stumble a bit. She barely registered a blur of orange fur before a foot connected with her jaw, sending her sprawling again. She recovered quickly and tried to find some way of evening the footing. Instinctually, she managed to expand the flow of time and now Nick was moving at a more normal speed and she managed to block a punch that still shattered her elbow.

Nick backed off, smirking slightly, and then came in for another quick combo. Judy managed to duck or dodge every blow but her counter attacks were just as easily avoided. She pushed herself further and went for an all-out assault but the fox just dipped and weaved, every single punch and kick hitting empty air.

“Come on, Carrots! Stop trying to hit me and hit me!”

She huffed and launched herself forward at him, feeling actual anger at him for the first time in a long time. She swung at him and he just dodged with that damn smug grin on his face. Every dodge felt like a personal insult and she pushed herself harder, her vision shifting and going slightly red. She willed more strength and speed into her limbs and felt her hands crack and become horrific clawed versions of what they used to be. She swung and managed to catch Nick, sending him bouncing across the arena. Her instincts screamed at her to continue the assault, to finish it.

She stopped herself, shaking and forcing the rage down, forcing those instincts away. It wasn’t easy but she eventually got back to normal, her vision clearing and her hands returning to normal. Once she was herself again, she rushed over to Nick.

The fox was lying on his back, claw marks across his chest, but they were already healing, “Damn, Carrots… You hit hard when you’re mad. I’m glad you recovered. The first rage is always a little hard to control.”

“My instincts were screaming at me to finish tearing you apart, apparently they didn’t care that we were mates.”

“It never does,” he said, sitting up, “You ruined my shirt… but you unlocked the ability to shift your body into a weapon, so I guess it’s worth it.”

“Is that what this was?”

The fox nodded, “If we run out of ammo or you lose your melee weapon, you need to be able to meet these monsters head on. Normal vampire bunny strength will hurt but those claws will hurt more.”

Judy nodded and offered him a paw. She pulled him up easily, “So, now what?”

“Pick some gear, make sure it fits. There’s a few suits of body armor too that are sized to smaller mammals. Find a couple of weapons you can handle carrying and make sure you have enough ammo.”

“How much is enough?”

“Yes,” Nick said with a smirk, “Be quick. I’ve got some blood for us to drink and I think I’ve found their hideout. Our friend got sloppy and left me a trail. That, or he’s set a trap.”

Judy smirked right back at him, “Then you know what we have to do, right, Slick?”

His smirk turned into a startlingly evil grin, “Spring the trap!”

They fist-bumped and set about getting prepared. Judy ended up with two heavy pistols with the silver nitrate hollow points, as well as a rifle with the incendiary rounds and a bandolier of grenades and spare mags.

Nick himself was equipped with the rotary launcher, with a bag full of spare rounds, a semi-automatic shotgun with silver buckshot, and a backpack filled with high explosives to take care of the facility when they found it.

The two exited the vault and moved down more tunnels to find the entrance to the maintenance tunnels beneath the city. They moved swiftly and quietly until they came to a code locked solid metal door. Nick looked it over and rolled his eyes.

“This is definitely the place. Door is brand new. No effort to hide it,” he said and dropped his pack to pick out a folded piece of cloth and wires. He stuck it to the door, unfolded it to reveal a breaching charge and moved back behind a corner further down the hallway. He used his body to shield Judy’s as they put some ear plugs in and he lifted the detonator, “A really big fucking hole, coming right up,”

“Will you stop quoting things?”

“When I’m dead, Carrots,” he said with a grin and then triggered the detonator. There was a hiss as the thermite ring ignited, burning through the metal of the door before a loud blast echoed down the tunnel, finishing the breach by blowing out the cut-out portion of metal. The two vampires didn’t even wait for the smoke to clear before running into the breach. They had surprise on their side for the moment and their abilities let them see the heat signatures of their prey.

Moving in tandem, they both slowed time for themselves and rushed down the short hallway on the other side of the door. Four mammals were standing by a security desk and all were in motion to grab weapons as the pair turned a corner. Nick’s shotgun barked twice, the two behind the desk falling from buckshot wounds while Judy took care of the two who were near the metal detector with shots of her own. They hopped the desk and began looking for a facility map, hoping that they had one for new arrivals.

Finding one, they marked out their path of destruction. There were six main labs and a warehouse. Each lab would receive its own dose of high explosives and the warehouse would get the rest. Moving toward the emergency stairs they heard the alarm going off, the speed at which they were moving causing it to sound low and distorted.

“Hopefully we’re moving fast enough that we can hit ‘em before they get prepared,” Nick said as they took flights of stairs in single leaps. Judy kicked open the door to the first level and moved in, starting to clear the offices on the right side of the hallway.

Nick took the left and they were surprised that most of the offices were empty, only one having any furniture but currently uninhabited. They moved back to the stairs and descended to the second level. They could sense commotion on the other side and a quick peek through the glass saw several heavily armed mammals aiming from behind tables at the door.

Nick cracked the door and Judy threw a flashbang, blinding the mammals as they breached. The launcher thumped and three of them blew apart, coating the two remaining with gore before they were dropped by precision fire from the bunny’s rifle. Judy briefly felt guilt as one of the mammals was garbed in a lab coat, but he was armed and working for the fiend who was running this show, ‘ _ No place for mercy here, _ ’ she thought to herself as they moved down the hallway and found the door to the first lab. It was sealed tight and made of some kind of frosted glass. Two hard strikes with the butt of his launcher let Nick in and he fired another shell into the mutated mammal that began to charge. It detonated and the monster was torn apart.

Judy followed him and took in the carnage. There were three scientists in a dozen pieces on the floor. Apparently they had released their experiment and paid the price for it. Nick set an explosive charge on the computer casing in the center of the room and the two moved on to the next lab.

It was unlocked, and the scene inside rivaled the previous for the level of horror. It was a lab full of biological samples and a vivisected test subject that was somehow still alive. There were jars full of organs and flesh along the tables, along with testing equipment that was still running. Shaking her head, she looked at Nick whose face was grim.

“What do we do, Nick?”

Without saying anything, he took two of the small white phosphorous grenades off his bandolier, primed them, tossed them in the room, one landing in the open cavity of the subject’s chest, and then sealed the door again. There were two dull thumbs, followed by a fire alarm and sprinklers going off. They would do no good.

Moving further, they cleared the remaining labs, setting explosives as they went until they reached a sealed double door at the end of the hallway. Examining it, Nick determined they would need another thermite breaching charge. Setting it up, they pulled back behind one of the overturned tables in the hallway and waited for the hiss and detonation.

Once the smoke cleared, the pair pushed in, finding themselves on a catwalk overlooking a darkened warehouse. Their enhanced eyesight let them see what was below. Cages on cages full of mutated mammals. Some of them were dead, rotting in the corner, while others were possessed of a feral rage and were attempting to break through the bars or reach through to their neighbors with sharpened claws.

The stench of death, feces, and urine was so intense that Judy had to reflexively cover her muzzle, “Sweet cheese and crackers, Nick… How do this many mammals go missing and no one reports it?”

Nick was about to respond when lights snapped on overhead, highlighting the pair on the catwalk and a silhouette in an observation room.

“D’you two, have  _ any _ fokken adear hoo much treble yer cowzin?!”

“All of it, we hope,” Nick snarked, making sure his launcher was fully loaded and then taking aim at the silhouette.

“Y’think ye kin kill me? Da glass is bulletproof!”

“But is it 40mm grenade proof?” Nick asked before firing all six rounds across the window. Each one penetrated the glass thanks to the hardened tips before detonating. The figure inside the control room bolted for cover once the first round detonated but they were unable to make it very far before catching shrapnel in the back and falling to the ground as the other rounds detonated and destroyed the equipment.

There was a loud buzz and then the sound of hundreds of cages opening at once.

“Uh, Nick? I think you triggered a failsafe…” Judy said, peering over the railing as the mutants were now milling about beneath them, free from their cages. Gradually each one turned towards them and then with a mingled howl, they all began to charge.

Some leapt straight into the air to try and land on the catwalk while others began climbing walls or even making for the ladders and stairs that lead to their location. Nick dropped the launcher and unholstered his pistols while Judy raised her rifle and the pair began taking out the mammals one by one with precision fire. There were just too many and eventually the pair became mired in a melee battle. Judy was moving as fast as lightning, landing bone-crushing kicks to chests while slicing open stomachs and throats with her silver-edged daggers. Nick was bludgeoning his opponents with his weapons before firing point-blank into essential organs and heads.

Eventually he ran out of ammo and switched to his long knives, stabbing and slicing with practiced ease. Blades met brains through soft undersides of jaws or through the thin bones at the back of the neck, each strike meant to kill as quickly as possible. There was none of the usual playing with his prey this time. It was simply a slaughter. Bodies piled up until both of them felt a creak, then heard shrieking as the catwalk tore away from the ceiling from the weight. It swung out and then collapsed to the ground sending dead and living bodies tumbling across the floor of the warehouse and into the bars of cages.

Judy landed hard on top of a cage and felt her pelvis break and then knit back together, her daggers knocked free of her grip. She looked around for them, finding them a few cages away on the ground, stuck in a corpse. Standing, she drew her sidearms and began taking shots at the foes that were recovering from the fall until her mags were empty.

She managed to spot Nick, several feet away, also on top of a cage, unloading his tranq gun with the modified rounds which caused several of the mutants to ignite in flame. The flame began to spread across the other corpses, consuming them ravenously. Looking at it, she could tell it was spreading too quickly.

“Nick! The fire! We need to get out of here!”

“Control room! Should be another exit through there!” he shouted back, kicking a mammal down and then leaping toward his destination. 

Judy kept up, using her powerful legs to rebound off of caves, shelves, and the occasional skull until they landed in the control room. In mid flight, she shucked off her bandolier and primed all of the remaining Whiskey Pete on it before dropping it into a baying crowd of the foes beneath her. There was a muffled whump and then screaming as the grenades detonated, catching dozens of the monsters on fire. Nick crouched, dropped the backpack and removed the rest of the plastic explosives. He stabbed a detonator into the block and shoved it against a server bank that had somehow survived the 40 mikes. They could hear the crackling of fire and enraged howling of monsters behind them.

Nick paused as soon as he saw an open door with blood leading out of it. He looked around and then cursed, “Little bastard escaped.”

“He took a lot of shrapnel, he can’t have gotten far,” Judy said, already bolting for the door with her tranq gun drawn, full of actual tranquilizers. They wanted to bring in their quarry alive if possible to get more information out of him. Nick followed, reloading his side-arms as he went.

They tracked the trail until it eventually faded into bloody footprints and then through a door. They ascended the stairs and exited into another abandoned warehouse, this one on the surface. A few meters away stood their foe as a box truck rolled out of the main door and rapidly accelerated into the night.

Finally able to see the villain, he wasn’t that impressive. Black fur, grey eyes, and long ears identified him as a rabbit, though not one that was common in the region. He was definitely not from Bunnyburrow.

He sighed, “Well it seems you have me cornered. Though it is unlikely you can defeat me. The backups are already away and the experiments will continue despite my absence.”

Nick raised his eyebrow, “What’s with the swapping accents?”

The rabbit laughed, “Of all the questions in the world, that is the one you choose to ask!? Well, that one will have to remain a mystery,” he said, suddenly blurring over to land a solid kick into Nick’s chest, sending him flying. It was only due to his body armor that his chest didn’t cave in, “Did you think you were the only vampires in Zootopia?”

Judy snapped into action, firing her tranquilizers. He dodged each one with ease and then zipped over and sent her careening in a high arc with an uppercut. Her jaw was shattered and ruined but it was already knitting back together when she landed and spit out blood.

“Good hit,” she said, pushing off on her own powerful legs and reaching him in an instant. They matched blow for blow, Judy unable to outspeed him. He was concentrating on blocking and dodging so he was unable to get in a good counter, but it was obvious he was just playing with her. It wasn’t until he drew a knife that either party was able to sway the flow of battle. Judy instinctively knew it was edged in silver and strove to avoid its deadly bite. Now fully on the defensive, she looked for Nick. He was rising to his feet, still a little stunned, but when he saw his mate being pressed in combat, he rocketed forward and blind-sided the rabbit with a punch to the side of his head.

The small foe spun and went bouncing across the warehouse into a box, crashing through it. There was a split second of inaction before he launched back out, hurling a sharpened wooden stake ahead of him and swinging his knife at Nick. The knife managed to slice along the fox’s arm before Judy nailed the rabbit in the stomach with a powerful kick, sending him into a wall, cracking the cement and leaving a dent, which he rested in for a moment, his knife clattering on the floor.

“Good hit, traitor…” he wheezed, “Broke my sternum. It won’t be enough,” he said, his mask falling. He fell out onto the floor. There was a sickening crack as his spine distended and arched out of his back, his shoulders bulging. More cracks as his bone structure shifted. His paws became massive, sporting sharp claws. His jaw extended into a fully predatory configuration with needle-like teeth and his chest broadened, the bones pushing out against the skin to make him look almost emaciated. His legs lengthened and thickened, bursting out of his clothes, his feet joining his hands in being horrible clawed appendages. He roared and reared back, panting heavily as he stared down his prey.

Nick and Judy, upon watching him transform into a huge, horrifying monstrosity, underwent their own partial transformations. Paws becoming deadly weapons, but keeping the speed of their smaller forms. The pair flanked their foe as he swung, attempting to catch both of them in one sweep of his massive paws. They danced around him, slashing his legs when they could reach, but largely avoiding his gradually more rage-induced swings. The floor of the warehouse was filled with cracks and impact craters from his fists, and claw marks were dug deep into the wall. The pair were rapidly running out of energy and were amazed that he had gone this long without losing complete control.

They could see him starting to smoke, his body burning itself to keep fighting. It was now just an endurance challenge. They dodged, slashing him, noting that his wounds were no longer closing quickly, his viscous black blood flowing out. Nick waited for the right moment, pulling a thermite grenade out of his pack, and leapt, chucking it into his gaping, panting maw.

The monstrous rabbit swallowed reflexively then looked horrified, clawing at his own throat and chest before there was detonation and he fell as his innards came into contact with molten iron. The heat from the reaction caught his flesh instantly and he went up like a torch, screeching and flailing as his body was consumed in fire. The fire caught on some boxes until the whole warehouse was going up.

“Judy, we gotta run!” Nick shouted over the roaring flames. They two ran out the still-open main door and across the street before the fox fumbled through his vest and pulled out a detonator. He looked at his partner and held it out. She gripped his hand and together, they pushed the button. They could not hear the detonations, but the blasts transmitted through the ground and the warehouse began to collapse as the construction beneath it caved in. The two of them collapsed against the wall they were near as the hole burned.

“That was…”

“Yeah,” Nick replied, wiping some soot off of his face, “That was definitely the center of their operations, but that truck…”

“That truck might have everything they need to start up again somewhere else… We need to find it.”

Nick’s ears turned as he caught sirens approaching, “Yeah… Sounds like the ZPD is on the way.”

Judy stood up and dusted herself off, making sure her mask was in place, “What do we tell them?”

Nick stood and sighed, “Well, we found their headquarters, and they set off the self-destruct.”

She nodded, pursing her lips, “I don’t like lying to colleagues, Nick.”

He rested a paw on her head, “Don’t worry, Carrots. It’s close enough to the truth. Plus, do you want to let everyone know you’re a vampire now?”

She shook her head, “Definitely not. I do want to tell my parents though, they need to know,” she said as the sirens got closer and they spotted a SWAT van and a few cruisers racing towards them.

The fox put his smirk back on, “Do you think they missed us, Carrots?”

“They might have missed me. You though? I think Wolfard was happy not to find salt in the sugar shaker anymore.”

“You can’t prove that was me.”

Judy made a soft noise and waited for the inevitable slew of questions from their co-workers, “I’m not looking forward to this…”

“Well, this will be easy, we still have more to do. We’ve got some long nights ahead, Carrots,” Nick said as they were surrounded by police vehicles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh look, title drop. Thanks again to Skooks. This is the last chapter of *this* story, but I might do an epilogue and more in the future.


End file.
